Siyuan Chen

The dragon fruit industry in the Northern Territory and Queensland is threatened by cheap imports nowadays, which has a significant impact on the local dragon fruit business. This project will differentiate the native fresh produce from the imports from a food chemistry perspective, including analysing physical appearance, nutritional compounds, shelf life and food safety hazards to generate a nutrient profile of the dragon fruit and provide a scientific guideline for establishing industry standards and labelling.

The current project will provide a comprehensive approach to the nutritional information on the Australian dragon fruit and, most importantly, provide a scientific guideline for Australia's dragon fruit industry. The project proposes to lead consumers to distinguish and choose between cheap imports and locally grown dragon fruit, eventually benefitting Australian dragon fruit farmers. This will assist the expansion of the current dragon fruit market and create more employment opportunities.